








o.»* G^ "^ ''T;-** /\ <^ 'o-.'»* ,G* "o 

./.>i!^-*-^- ^°-^^°- <'^'i^^'\ 





ORATION 



DELIVERED OJ? THE TfflRTY-SEVENTH ANNIVERSARY OF 



AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 



AT TUB REqtJBST OF THfi 



« SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF THE REVOLUTION," 



IN THE CAPITOL IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA; 



BY GEORGE HAY, Esq. 



,%S 



BALTIMORE r 

FROM THE PATRIOT PRESt. 
£. FBSnCB & C9. VBtNTSB*. 






<=^S"y^ "? i 



/:<! 



ORATION. 



FELLOW CITIZENS ! 

From the year 1776 to the present time, the people of America have 
eonseerated the 4th day of July, to joy and gratitude: joy, for the as- 
sertion of our national independence; and gratitude to those by whose 
wisdom, patriotism and valor, it was effected. The anniversary of that 
day on which the representatives of the people of the then British colo- 
nies of N. America, declared their constituents to be a free and indepen- 
dent nation, and assumed, for them, among the powers of the earth, 
that station to which " nature and nature's" God entitled them, has 
again come round. And it has come, like the day on which our fathers 
met, finally to decide on the future destiny of their country, while our 
ports are shut, our coasts invaded, our towns laid waste, and our fron- 
tiers exposed to all the horrors of a war, in which cunning, cruelty, and 
murder in cold blood, have usurped the place of courage. If, then, we 
are here met together, to pay the annual tribute of our unfeigned res- 
pect, to the statesmen, whom time has sunk into the grave, and to the 
warriors, who fell, for us, in battle, let us make the offering in the 
way, which they, if they could be now consulted, would most approve. 
Let us emulate their spirit : let us be governed by their precepts ; and, 
following their high example, unite as they did, and encounter difift- 
culty, privation, danger, desolation, and death, in every form, rather 
than submit, longer submit, to oppression and degradation. Let us 
attend to the valedictory admonition of him, who has been emphatically 
called the Savior of his Country: let us shew that his memory is dear 
to our hearts, and that his precepts are held in our grateful remem- 
brance, by resolving to be, and continuing to be, one people. Let us 
attend to him, and not to those false prophets, whose coming he fore- 
told : men, who under the sanction of his venerated name, preach a 
doctrine which he abhorred. " Union," he tells us, " is the main pillar 
of the edifice of our real independence ; the support of our tranquility 
at home, of our peace abroad : of our safety ; of our prosperity ; of 
that very liberty which we so highly prize. It is the point of our po- 
litical fortress against which the batteries of internal and ex^ema^ ene- 
mies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and in- 
sidiously) directed. Frown, therefore ; " indignantly frown," he con- 
tinues, ''on the first dawning of every attempt, to alienate any portion 
of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred tie* which now 



•( 4 ) 

link together its various parts." To this hallowed spirit, speaking 
from the tomb, the prophetic and inspired language of truth and pa- 
triotism, I conjure you, and all the people of this nation, to attend ; to 
attend with reverence. The enemy, by a discrimination both military 
and commercial, between the belligerent and non-conabatant states, is 
endeavoring to undermine this great pillar of our independence, while 
some of eur own citizens, from the phrenz} of party spirit, co-operate 
with him, by attempting to alienate the people of the East, from their 
brethren of the South and of the West. At this very moment, when 
the enemy is upon our Atlantic and inland frontier, when all the ener- 
gies of the government and of the people, ought to be directed to the 
public safety ; when the men of Kentucky and Ohio, undismayed by 
past calamities, go forth to battle, (o support the cause of their country, 
and to avenge the death of their murdered friends, a sullen neutrality 
in the East is observed, and questions deliberately settled by the best 
and wisest men of this country, w ith Washington at their head, are re- 
vived, and strenuoosly pressed upon the public mind. Questions, which 
have slept during the five-and-tvventy years of peace and prosperitj', 
are now, in the hour of difficulty and danger, clamorously forced upon 
our notice. Why is this done now ? Why is this done at all ? These 
are questions which I will not now stop to answer: but there is one 
point in which we must all concur. We must all agree, that the effect, 
.as far as any effect can be produced, is not only to encourage the ene- 
inv, but " to alienate one portion of onr country from the rest, and to 
fnfeeble the sacred ties which now link together its various parts." — 
But this detestable plan can never succeed. " The people of America 
have too much good sense, to enter into the gloomy and perilous scenes 
into which the advocates for disunion would lead them. They Mill not 
hearken to the unnatural voice which tells them, that, knit together 
as they are by so many cords of affection, they can no longer live 
together as members of the same great family ; can no longer be the 
mutual guardians of their mutual happiness ; can no longer be fellow 
citizens of one great and flourishing empire." Admonished by the 
most distinguished advocate of the existing confederation. " they will 
shut their ears against this unhallowed language — they will shut their 
hearts against the poison which it conveys. The kindred blood which 
jBows in their veins, the mingled blood which they have shed," (and 
are now shedding) " in defence of their sacred rights, consecrate their 
pnion, and excite horror at the idea of their becoming aliens, rivals^ 
enemies." Such, fellow-citizens, is the eloquent and pathetic exhorta- 
tion of the triumvirate >vho, in the year 1787, endeavored to impress 
on the hearts of their countrymen, a belief of the vital importance of 
union among the statesv May this union, the offspring of liberty and 
truth — be like the first, glorious ; like the last, eternal. 

Jjet us not only emulate the spirit, but follow the example and pursue 
the policy of the founders of our republic. The memorable Congress 
of iTv^, invited the Canadians to consult their own glory and welfare, 
and to unite wjth them, in the great compact, which they had formed. 
Your provivs - . said they, is the only link, wanting to complete the bright 
|tnd strong in of the union. But, awording to an English historian, 
jhe spirit of liberty was too faipt and feehle in Canada, and the ari^to-, 
^I'^py P^^ priesthood too.powei'fulj to ixdmit {>f any cpntjiderablt effect 



( 5 ) 

from this address. But this effect was produced. The Canadians de- 
clared the quarrel was one in which they had no concern, and in which 
they would take no part. As soon as this disposition was known, tlie 
invasion of Canada was projected, and the expedition confided to the 
gallant, but unfortunate Montgomery. Such was the policy, such was 
the conduct of the men, to whose wisdom and firmness we are indebted 
•for the revolution. They knew that the Canadians were not their ene- 
mies, but they also knew that Canada formed a part of the doniiuions 
of their oppressor — a part essential to the repose and security of the 
Union, and they wisely determined to take it, if they could. They did 
not whine and cant, as some of their degenerated offspring have done, 
about the innocent Canadians ; about tiie unchristian wickedness of 
making war upon a harmless people. They were not hypocrites. The 
exclusion of the enemy from tliis continent was the great object which 
they had in view, which we ought to have in view now, and which, 
during this war or the next, will be inevitably accomplished. This idea 
is sanctioned by the opinion of Washington himself: and yettliose who 
kave formed a society, under his name, insnlt his memory, the memo- 
ry, of Montgomery, consecrated by a glorious death, and that of all 
whom this day brings to our proud and graieftil recollection, by decla- 
mation as insolent as it is puerile, against our invasion of that 
province. 

Let us remember, though we Iiave not followesTj the example of those 
•whose wisdom, virtue and valor, we are here assembled to celebrate.-- 
Our fathers did not wait until the oppression, which produced the war, 
was actually felt. They opposed tl»e unjust pretensions of Great Bri- 
tain, at the instant at which tliey were announced, Tlie British go- 
vernment asserted a right to tax tlie colonies. This usurpation was 
strenuously opposed. The contemplated tax was trivial in itself — and 
might have been paid, without diminisliing a single comfort which our 
citizens had been accustomed to enjoy. But the people of America, 
happily for themselves, for us, and for the world, dex^ided, that they 
would not submit to the slightest imposition. Tltey opposed a princi- 
ple, which they knew, would lead to unlimited donjinion. The British 
ministry endeavored to silence this opposition, by a commercial regula- 
tion, which w hile it asserted the principle, made the tax itself entirely 
nominal. They took from the export duty in England, a sum precisely 
equivalent to the duty exacted here. But this miserable subterfuge 
did not succeed. The founders of our revolution di^"dained to make 
those pecuniary calculations, which have been of late so common.— 
They scorned to weigh gold and silver, against principle. They knew 
noc how to estimate money, as the price of national degradation and 
slavery ; and they required that the claim of a right to lax them, should 
J)e unequivocally surrendered. But our remonstrances were treated 
with scorn ; our o])position was declared to be rebellion ; Washington 
himself denounced to be a traitor; our trade was anniliilated; our ci- 
ties destroyed ; and our country ravaged by the veteran armies of our 
oppressor, aided by hired murderers froni' the continent. Bui the spi- 
Tit which dictated the declaration of independence, >^g not subdued; 
the flame of patriotism was cherished with more than ^.'stal vigilance; 
*'the chain of union was bright and strong;" and the s'.irrender of the 
British arnj^, in this state, produced a reluctant but final acquieseeijce 



. ( 6 ) 

in our claim to national independence. Such was the conduct, such 
were the sufferings, such was the success of those, whom wp are now 
assembled to honor, and who are most worthy to be honored. 

Have Me, animated by the spirit of 76, followed this great example? 
Have we united, and risen up to oppose insolent and unjust pretensions, 
as soon as they were announced ? Have we had wisdom to foresee the 
mischief which acquiescence in foreign usurpation must always pro- 
duce, and firmness enough to resist it, from its commencement? No ! 
we have not had this wisdom ; we Iiave not displayed this firmness. The 
hand of oppression was laid upon us ; and though we murmured, we 
did not resist. We have been insulted and injured at home and abroad, 
and though we complained, we never struck a blow in revenge. The 
spirit of our fathers slept. We have, indeed, been patient. Patient/ 
let me speak the truth ; we have been abject. Under a pretended de- 
votion to peace, we have concealed our love of gain. We have been 
corrupted by high prices for produce and for freight, the miserable pro- 
fits of a despised and despicable neutrality ; and in our ardent pursuit 
of wealth, we have, stooped, and crept, and crawled, until vte had al- 
most lost the power of becoming erect : and we have been oppressed 
and trampled, until not only every feeling of shame, but ail sense of 
pain, appeared to be extinct. Our commerce had been for years pirati- 
cally plundered, our ships taken from us by force, or consumed by fire, 
upon the ocean ; our cities insulted, our citizens murdered, our flag dis- 
honored, our seamen made slaves, and our national character become 
the scorn of nations. All this we have seen, and yet our patience was 
not exhausted. For seven long years, the very period during which 
our fathers encountered all the miseries of war, in repelling a claim 
"which was never carried into operation, against them, then willing sub- 
jects of the British empire, we, a free people, possessing twice their 
strength and wealth, have submitted to every species of oppression and 
insult. But thanks be to God! the citizens of these United States have 
been at length roused from the stupor and lethargy, into which tbey 
had sunk. The spirit of our fathers was not dead. We have assert- 
ed our indisputable rigltts, we have declared war to support them ; and 
they will be supported. The badge of slavery which we have worn so 
long, will be renioved, and the chain by which we have been bound and 
galled, «ill be broken into pieces on the head of our oppressors. The 
feelings, excited by this day, consecrated to departed worth and patriot- 
ism, will insure ouc final triumph. For, I trust, that you have not 
come here in quest of amusement, or to indulge in idle curiosity. I 
trust that you have not ventured to approach this holy national com- 
munion, unless your hearts are purified by love of your country, zeal 
for its rights, indignation for the wrongs that have been heaped upon 
us, and a firm resolution to resist those wrongs forever. Feelings like 
this belong to this sacred day. Possessing them we may look back 
without shame, and forward without apprehension. Engaged as we 
are in a just cause, tbe blessing of Almighty God will be upon us. If 
we are firm and united, wc sliall prove to the belligerents of Europe, 
that we will not be injured with impunity, and we shall ourselves leani 
that insolence and rapacity must be opposed at their commencement, 
as they never fail to increase in proportion to the patience with which 
thjey areeudnred. 



(7) 

This subject of our wrongs and humiliations, deserves our most seri^ 
eus notice. I will present it distinctly to your view. It will afford ue 
a salutary lesson. It will teach us to follow with firmness and perse- 
verance, the steps of those who have gone before us, or to forbear the 
celebration of virtues which we have not the courage to imitate. 

It is obvious, that during a war between France and Great Britain, 
the United States, if neutral, must derive great benefit from a com- 
meice restrained only by the law of nations concerning contraband and 
blockade. For a time this benefit was enjoyed, our trade increased, 
and our tonnage became nearly equal to that of Great Britain. The 
commercial jealousy of this unfiiendly power was excited, and her 
ministry availing themselves of her naval supremacy, determined to 
embarrass if not destroy the rival commerce of the United States. Of 
this plan, history assures us that they will never lose sight ; and if 
we have peace in this year, in the next, we shall be exposed to new 
wrongs, and outrages, unless we are prepared to do that by force, which 
reason, justice and humanity never can ett'eet. 

The first measure adopted by the British government, was to declare 
a large portion of the French coast in a state of blockade. This idea 
was as novel as the measure itself was injurious to the United States. 
We remonstrated, complained, negociated — but the grievance continued 
and the trade of the United States suffered incalculable losses. It is 
true that this principle has been since abandoned, and paper blockades 
are admitted to be illegal. But this admission was not made until a 
new principle had been adopted, which, occupying a broader ground, 
made this surrender of no consequence to neutrals. How much we 
suffered by this lawless exaction, it is impossible here to ascertain ; but 
they are recorded in the books of the admiralty of England ; a court 
which, under the pretence of securing to the mariner the reward of his 
valor in the spoil taken from the foe in arms, distributes among pirates 
the plunder of which they have robbed a defenceless and friendly 
neutral. 

In consequence of the naval superiority of Great Britain, the French 
government opened for neutrals, the trade between the colonies and 
their belligerent parent. That trade which had theretofore been con- 
fined to the ship« of France, was now carried on by the neutral Ameri- 
can. The British government, not satisfied with the destruction of the 
carrying trade of France, determined tliat no neutral should enjoy what 
France had lost. They soon promulgated a doctrine fitted exactly for 
the occasion. They declared a trade opened to ne:,tr.ils by a bellige- 
rent in consequence of a war, to be illegal, and seizures and condemna- 
tion to the amount of millions, followed the declaration. Again 
we remonstrated — again we negociated — but our grievances were not 
redressed. 

The American merchant to avoid the mischief of this usurpation, im- 
ported the productions of the belligerent colonies, into the United States, 
as tliey had done before the Avar, and then exported the cargo, or sold 
it to those who exported it to France. For this state of things, a new 
principle, precisely such as the convenience of Great Britain regarded, 
made its appearance in the Courts of the English adniiralty, and ^as 
cordially received as apart of the law of nations. It was decided that 
Ha uu£o£iiUiQaiut&th&Umjt|pd%tates did uot interrupt the ccoitiuuity 



\ 8 ) 

of the voyage, and tliC work of'plunilcr and piracy continued as before. 
Ameiican vessels, loaded witli American projierty*, going from an Ame- 
rican port, were seized ,011 our own coast, by the pov.er, and condemned 
by the rapacity of Great Britain ! This too, we bore. 

To render our situation still more deplorable and humiliating, Bri- 
tish ships were stationed off our coast, for the express purpose of inter- 
cepting this colonial produce, and our vessels engaged even in domestic 
trade, were ordered to come to, and state what they were, and whither 
they were bound. Disobedience was death. Bat the murder of Pearce, 
aroused for a time tlie torpid spirit of the country. A sentiment of 
shame and indignation pervaded the continent. Remonstrances and 
complaints were pressed from all quarters upon the government. Those 
from tlie trading towns merit peculiar notice. Never were rights mgre 
accurately described ; never were wrongs more eloquently denounced j 
never were assurances of support and co-operation, more solemn or 
more strong. But our patience was not yet exhausted, and new losses 
and humiliations were soon to spring from another source. 

In January, 1807. before the fate of the treaty of December, 1806, 
was known in Great Britain, her ministry had issued an order interdict-- 
ing the commerce of neutrals from one port of France to another. Of 
this usurpation we had hardly time to complain. 

Jn June 1807, a British ship, in the bay of Chesapeake, attacked an 
American frigate unprepared for battle, killed some of her men, forced 
her to strike her colors, and impressed several seamen from on board. — 
Yes, fellow-citizens, the flag of these United States, which never knew 
disgrace before, and which has seen nothing but glory since, descended, 
sunk, became prostrate, within the limits of this insulted country, upon 
a deck wet and stained with the blood of our murdered countrymen. I 
do not mention this outrage, as cowardly as it was savage, as a cause 
of war. The British ministry disavowed the act, and we have accept- 
ed the reparation, such as it was, which their pride permitted them to 
make. It is only stated to shew the insolent and hostile spirit of that 
nation towards us. But thanks be to God, this dishonor has been wiped 
away ; the nation has been avenged ; the flag of the United States has 
waved in triumph over the naval standard of Great Britain : and honjor- 
ed, forever honored be the men, who have bestowed the glory and hap- 
piness, on their country. 

There was yet more of misery and more of humiliation in store for 
the people of America. Encouraged by our patience, and still more 
by our divisions, and stimulated at once by rapacity and by pride, Great 
Britain in November, 1807, issued her orders in council, interdicting all 
neutral trade w ith France and her dependencies. This gave the finish- 
ing stroke to almost all our commerce, except with herself. It was the 
death-blow to neutral rights. It was the open and unqualified asser- 
tion, in the face of the world, of that principle which has been so 
adroitly developed, that Great Britain is authorised to maintain its na- 
val superiority against her enemy, at the expense of not only that ene- 
my, but of neutrals. A principle, more lawless and more oppressive, 
was never asserted by the Arab of the desert, or the pirate of the Medi- 
terranean. This, however, is the real principle on which Great Bri- 
tain has acted, and on which, rest assured, she will continue to act, as 
Ipng as her tyranny shall coatinue to bf ^ured. Her naval supreraa- 



(9) 

cy, boitomc'J on commercial monopoly, is the object of her warmest 
aReclion ; its display giatifics lier strongest passions, her pride and 
her avarice ; and it will he cherished not only at the expense of her 
enemy, but of all the neutrals of the Morld. 

A single fact will exhibit the orders in their genuine colors, and sliew 
the source from which they sprung. After Great Britain hit! issued 
lier imperial decree, commanding the nations of the earth to ubitaia 
from trading with her enemy, she herself, meanly and sordidly , carried 
oil with that enemy, the v^ry trade iu which neutrals were forbidden 
to engage. 

It is true that the orders have been repealed. But wliy were tliey 
repealed.^ Was it because Great Britain had become at length sensible 
of the injustice which we had sufiered at her hands ? No! Did she 
offer to indemnify us for the millians of which we had been robbed? 
No! Was it then because France was believed by her to have repeal- 
ed her Berlin and Milan decrees ? No ! Such is not the fact. The re- 
peal was produced by the clamors of the British people, who felt the 
interruption of the American trade to be a uatioual calamity. 

The excitse that has been ottered for the outrage inlilcied by these 
orders, is as insulting as tlie outrage itself was excessive. They were 
bottomed, it was said on the j)rinciple of retaliation. The people of 
America submitted, said the British orators, to the oppression of the 
French decrees; we will retaliate by oppressing tliein with the orders 
in council. Such is tlie reasoning of power, stimulated by avarice and 
by jealousy. 

To complete the degradation of this country, the British claim the 
right of impressing their seamen from American ships on the high 
seas. This alledged right they have long continued to exercise, and 
in the pursuit of it have impressed tiionsands of our native born citi- 
zens, and by chains and stripcsforced them to sarve on board their navy; 
to light their battles — to assist before the war in plundering their own 
defenceless countrymen, and since, in eombating against a flag in de- 
fence of which they would be proud to lay down their lives. 

To shake off this yoke, is now the principal object of th£ present 
war; an object which must be obtained. The government of America 
can never lose sight of it. It cannot be so base and abject. To sanc- 
tion by treaty, a claim which brands this nation with shame and infa- 
my, would be treason against humanity — a cowardly and sacrilegious 
surrender of that equal station among the powers of the earth, to uliich 
the great men, whose merits have brought us this day together, declar- 
ed that " Nature and Nature's God entitles us to." 

It is not my intention to enter into the discussion of this subject. — ■ 
Enough and more than enough has been said to shew the fallacy of the 
priucipl? un which the claim has been made to rest, and the duty on our 
part to resist its practical operation, even if that principle were true. — 
My object now is, merely to state a fact, which will sLow, more cooh 
pletely than any yet stated, the degraded condition to which, as a na.^ 
tion, we have been reduced. Great Britain has never once deigned to 
complain to the government of the United States of any violation of 
her rights in our employmeiit of those whom she calls her seamen.— 
Her ministry knew, that British seanion as well as other Britisli sub- 
jects, left tlittir native laud, in search of freedom, or of bread, and found 



'( 10 ) 

fliem in America. They knew that the former, when in our ports, have 
been employed in our ships. Yet they never condescentled to com- 
plain. They never stated to our Executive that their seamen were 
thus employed, that they had a right to their service, that tliey claim- 
ed that service, and that the American government was bound to reme- 
dy the evil. They disdained to ask redress. They took it. Content 
to assert their claims, in opposition to our complaints, they stopped our 
vessels on the ocean, carried from tiiem by force the native as well as 
the foreigner, whom they thought proper to select, and left the resi- 
due exposed to the mercy of the elements. 

All this we bore, until June 1812 ; and yet there are persons in Ame- 
rica, men in the councils of the nation and of the states, who say, that 
we ought still to have been patient, and that the war in which we are 
engaged, is wicked and unjust. If this be true, let us disperse in sor- 
row and in silence. Let us speak no more of the statesmen who plan- 
ned the revolution, or of the heroes who conducted tis through it, or fell 
in its support. The revolution was Ifclly, the war was wickedness, 
Washington a traitor, our governmsnt usurpation, and that indepen- 
dence wliich we have here met to celebrate, the shame, and not the glo- 
ry of America. We have felt for years the hand of oppression; our 
fathers would not sufter it to touch them even for a moment. If we are 
unjust and wicked, what were they .'' 

Thus, before the war, the conduct of Great Britain was in direct op- 
position to all tiie laws and principles established among nations for 
tbeir government in relation to neutrals. Since the war, it has beeu 
eijUiilly irregular and otiensive. She has deluded the drunken Savage 
of the north-west into an alliance, which she knows must eventuate in 
his destruction. She has turned him loose upon our frontier, and even 
brought him to fight by the side of the British soldier, though taught by 
experience, that he will rush on a defenceless captive, and murder iu 
the tort, the enemy whom in the field he was afraid to face. Great 
Britain knew that this miscliief could not be prevented, and yet she 
has formed this infamous alliance. I thank God, that the government 
of the United States disdained to employ the hand of the murderer, in 
maintainiiig the sacred rights of this nation. 

But tliis IS not all. The British, not content with combating men, 
armed for battle, have commenced a brutal war on those, whose sex 
claims and receives, at all times, and under all circumstances, from eve- 
ry man worthj of the name, sympathy and protection. A licentious 
soldiery have been let loose, in oiir own waters, upon matrons and maid- 
ens, and purity and innocence, have sunk and perished in the infernal 
struggle. Fellow-citizens, you are all sons, husbands, fathers or bro- 
thel's— you have mothers whom you venerate — wives whom you love — 
daughters who look up to you for safety— sisters whom you are bound 
by honor to protect; — you have the hearts of men— and you must feel 
tiiis unexpected blow : you have anus, and you n.ust avenge it. The 
hour of retribution must come ; but it must come when you are in the 
field. The only retaliation to which a magnanimous people, however 
insulted or injured, by individual e.rcesses, will ever resort, will be shewa 
by patriotism and courage against the enemy in attle. And when this 
enemy shall abandon his mean and sordid system of desultory, plunder- 
iv^ audiicentjous warfare, when he shall advance upon our soil, where 



( H ) 

its defenders can meet him in the face, he uill find that the terror mUH 
which he has inspired one sex, has only inflamed the courage of the 
other. " Hampton," will be the word, that will pass from rank to rank, 
and along the line of our patriot army ; and the pollution which we have 
sustained, shall be washed away iu the blood of the unmanly miscreants 
by whom it was committed. 

Here let me ask, w hat is Great Britain to gain by this miserable poli- 
cy ? What is she to gain by this infamous alliance, by shutting our ports, 
by pillaging our coast, by burning defenceless towns .'' or by a shame- 
less violation of the laws of decency and humanity ? She may expend 
one hundred millions more, she may add to the weight of that debt, 
which has already made every 7th man a pauper; she may employ ten 
years in the work of death and desolation, and pollution : and after all, 
she will find, that our population has encreased, " that plenty waves 
upon our fields ; that opulence glitters in our cities ;'' that our manufac- 
tures are prosperous, that our union is confirmed, and that experience 
lias taught us never again to submit with patience to insult or oppres- 
sion. Do you not believe tliat the British ministry must be sensible, 
that they can gain nothing in this war by conquest ? They are sensi- 
ble of it. They know it. They feel it. Why, then, do tbey not lis- 
ten to our complaints, and surrender the claim of impressing, if we 
surrender, as we have proposed to do, the riglit of employing British 
seamen ? Why will they not accept terms of accommodation, wliich 
we 3,re not bound to offer, and which are offered only from a love of 
peace ? I will tell you. Their hope is, that we shall not be united. — 
This war is waged against our union. This is the point of our national 
fortress, against which the " external enemy now directs his battery." 
His hope is, to disgrace our republican government — to expose it to 
the scorn of the world, and our own contempt. If he can make one 
part of this nation, feel exclusively the pressure of his power, and neu- 
tralize the other, by keeping at a distance the calamities of invasion, 
he trusts that we may be weak and wicked enough to quarrel with each 
other, and to pull down the temple which we have consecrated to union 
and to independence. Then, divided, miserable and weak, we shall be 
exposed to the pelting of that pitiless storm, which he will soon cause 
to burst iu thunder on our devoted heads. If this scheme shall fail, his 
next hope is, that the people, harrassed by the war, may change the ad- 
ministration, and bestow the powers of government on men whom he 
supposes to be more friendly to his views. In this hope, too, he will 
find himself mistaken : there is no party in America which would dare 
to surrender to Great Britain the right to regulate our trade, and to ini« 
press even British seamen from our ships. 

Yes, my countrymen, rest assured, that the union will be preserved 
and that oar rights will be maintained. The people of America are 
well aware of the glori(^ destiniesi which await their country. They 
look forward to that time, which some here assembled will live to see, 
when 50 millions of people, iu the full enjoyment of freedom and abun- 
dance, will occupy the fruitful plains, and mountains and vallies, which 
extend from the Atlantic to the head waters of Che Missouri — from 
the gulf of the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Missisippi : a people 
bound together no less by interest than affection. Even then we shall 
be rapidly advancing in wealth and strengtii. The nations of Europe, 



(• 12 ) 

exhausted by the calamities which the ambition of princes never fails 
to bring upon their subjects, will respect our rights, because thev will 
|earn our power. The navy of the United Stetes will be the guardian 
of our repose, and the future Decaturs, Hulls, Joneses, Lawrences, and 
Bainbridges, of America, will stand ceutinels over the rights and honor 
of their country ! 

The ministry of Great Britain have not shut their eyes upon this 
s})lendid prospect. They see a new power rising in this western world, 
M'hose coninierce and whose navy, if the states remain united, are irre* 
vocably destined to surpass their own. What, then, is the course of 
policy which Great Britain may be expected to pursue ? The question is 
already answered. She has endeavored to ruin our trade, ,§nd to de- 
stroy our union. Of these objects, rest assured, she will never lose sight. 
if by her machinations in peace, or her policy in war, she can divide 
the people of America, her object is attained. The victim's of factioa 
at home, are the predestinated prey of foreign power. If seduced by 
the ?.pirit of party, we forget the precept of Washiugton, and cease to 
be one- people ; the sun of American glory, just rising in beauty and 
splciulor above the horizon, will sink to rise no more. 

Fellovv-eitizens ! This is a great crisis : important, not only to us, 
but to t lire M'orld. The war in which we are now engaged, ascertains 
the strength and value of our republican institutions. The political 
esppriineut wliich we have made, has been hitherto successful. Our 
goveru:n?nt secures our happiness in time of peace, and cannot subvert 
onr liheity. liCt us shew that it is competent to our defence in time of 
War. If it be so, our destiny is fixed, and all the powers of the earth 
cannot disturb it. If it be not thus competent, if the measures requir. 
ed for common defence and general welfare can be impeded or baffled 
by the spirit «f party, and the ciimors of oppositio.i, if in fact, the 
whole force of the country, cannot be put into operation, for the protec- 
tion of all. the alternatives are obvious. We must either, adopt by 
common consent, a government which can afford us protection in time 
of war; or, such a government will be forced upon us, by the ambi- 
tio'i» leafier of a victorious faction, or we shall fall a prey to the arts, 
aad power of that nation, which shall first be able to direct all its ener- 
gies against us. Thus while we are now engaged in the defence of our 
rights, of our persons, and of the soil on which we tread, we maintaia 
and invis;orate, and give character and credit to that system of govern- 
Ittient, which many have conceived to be fitted only for the season of pros- 
pc-iity and peace. 

Fellow^-citizens ! Have patience yet a moment. You irill have pa- 
tience. It is Washington w ho speaks. " Citizens, by birth or choice," 
says this illustrious man, " of a common country, that country has a 
Ti:^]\t to concentrate our affection^. The name of American, which be- 
longs to us in our national capacity, must always exalt the just pride 
of patriotism more than any appellation derlVed from local discrimi- 
nations. With slight shades of difterence, we have the same religion, 
iiaiiits, manners and political principles, with every commanding mo- 
tive which interest can furnish, for guarding and pi-eserving the union 
of tlie whole." Let us, then, my countrymen, hold it to be a sacred 
duty, to regard all the states as one country, and all the people which 
^uUabit them as our brethi'^ii. That uarrqw and sordid and selfis^ spi- 



C IS ] 

fit wliieh shall lead the people of one state, to view with jealousy or 
envy the prosperity of another, it is folly, it is wickedness to indulge. 
But still more detestalile, is that feeling which induces the inhabitants 
of one section of tliis country to exult at the dangers to which others 
are constantly and inevitably exposed, or at the calamities which inva- 
sion may produce. Let not your souls be blackened by such pollution. 
Tear from your hearts every root and fibre of sentiments like these.— 
But why do I give this admonition ? My countrymen, I know that t/ou 
need it not. But it may not be " wasted in the desart air." It may 
fall where it may be felt. I say with confidence that you do not require 
this admonition. I judge your hearts and minds by my own, and 1 say 
for you, that you rejoice in the wealth and industry of the Eastera 
states ; in the rising greatness of Pennsylvania and New- York, and ia 
the increasing power and population of the states on the western wa- 
ters. The prosperity of the states is the glory, and their strength, is 
the strength of the nation. 

One more remark, and I have done. The enemy, by his late move- 
ments, seems to have selected the state of Virginia as the peculiar ob- 
ject of his vengeance. Be it so. The people of this commonwealth are 
proud to be thus distinguished. They have never, by a senatorial re- 
solve, deprecated his wrath, and so help them God ! they never will.— 
Their fathers met him in the field, and led his army into captivity.— 
We Avill emulate their spirit, and endeavor to follow their great exam- 
ple. Our officers may want experience, and our soldiers may be defi- 
cient in discipline. But they will learn their lessons in the field of bat- 
tle, and men who bravely fight in defence of their sacred rights, and of 
the best and dearest objects of human affection, will soon know how to 
conquer in the service of their country. My countrymen ! my respect- 
ed countrymen ! brave and generous Virginians ! when this storm shall 
pass away, when an honorable peace shall be acquired by your patriot- 
ism and valor, when you, or such of you as may survive the conflict, 
shall meet again in the full enjoyment of peace, and of the rights for 
which we now contend, what will be your feelings ? How pure will be 
your joy .^ how proud your triumph.^ You shall '• read your history 
in a nation's eyes." Yes ! you shall stand on the right hand of your 
grateful country, while thos'C who have encouraged the foe, and desert- 
ed her in the hour of danger, shall call on the mountains to cover 
them ! 



H 33* 



Q 



■^\M£ 









V-:^\/ "°^*^-'/ ^^^'-^^-y^ "o^-- 

0^ 





vSk «, * ft ^^ ^ * "^ -^r *^ 






^^-"^ 







^^ 








HECKMAN IXI 

BINDERY INC. |§| 

1^ APR 89 

N. MANCHESTER, 
'^es' INDIANA 46962 






.-^•^ 



0_ -r, ,•' a"'^ 'V'^'o^o'* ^■*' 



